Conference
Preparatory Meeting of the Northeast Asia Youth Climate Council

from left to right Felix Glenk, Matilda Dimovska, Sonja Bachmann, Tapan Mishra and Mandkhai Batsuren

On June 5, preparations were made for the establishment of a Northeast Asian Youth Climate Council. Mandkhai Batsuren, Director General of the Department of Multilateral Cooperation at the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sonja Bachmann, Team Leader for Northeast Asia and the Pacific at the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Tapan Mishra, the UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia, and Matilda Dimovska, the representative of the UN Development Program, gave introductory speeches. They emphasized the importance of active participation of young people in global decision-making processes and strongly supported the project to ensure that youth from Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia can have a greater impact on world affairs.

The young participants then presented their organizations and their diverse, inspiring projects, all of which focus on environmental protection. The participants are highly motivated and committed to making positive changes for the future of our planet.

Ijun Kim from the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and member of the Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change then gave her presentation on the impacts of climate change and youth engagement in the Pacific and Northeast Asia. She particularly emphasized that Pacific countries such as Samoa and Vanuatu are suffering the most from the climate crisis.

Shortly before the lunch break, an activity was carried out to give the participants a short break - the so-called “Polak game”. This is an interactive exercise in which participants indicate their agreement or disagreement with various statements by positioning themselves along an imaginary line in the room. One side of the line symbolizes complete agreement, while the other represents complete disagreement, and participants position themselves somewhere in between according to their opinion. During this game, questions were asked about the climate crisis and participants had to show their opinion by positioning themselves in the room.

The document establishing the Climate Council and the Youth Declaration were then finalized based on the results of virtual consultations. Finally, the overview document for the Climate Council and the Youth Declaration was drawn up. The participants discussed challenging issues and endeavored to develop solutions to complex and critical problems.

Dr. Tserendulam Shagdarsuren, Director General of the Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia, Felix Glenk, Head of the Hanns Seidel Foundation Office, and Ijun Kim from the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and member of the Youth Consultative Group on Climate Change, thanked the participants and the participating organizations at the end of the discussions and said goodbye.

The results of this preparatory conference were presented on June 6 as part of the Ulaanbaatar Dialogues. This inclusive process brings together the voices of government representatives, academics and civil society to address common challenges and build mutual understanding and trust between the parties in Northeast Asia.

[Translate to English:]

[Translate to English:]